


Sweet as a Chocolate Button

by Oliver__Niko



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Baking, Bisexuality, Crushes, Easter, F/F, Fluff, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Questioning, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-12
Updated: 2020-04-12
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:54:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23611864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oliver__Niko/pseuds/Oliver__Niko
Summary: Annette and Mercedes spend their afternoon on Easter Sunday making chocolate eggs together. The former dwells on her feelings for Mercedes as they do so, fully accepting that she is falling for her best friend.
Relationships: Annette Fantine Dominic/Mercedes von Martritz
Comments: 2
Kudos: 31





	Sweet as a Chocolate Button

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Easter! I hope that you have a lovely day whether you celebrate or not. To go with the occasion, I wanted to write these two sweethearts making treats together. I've been mostly writing Sylvix as of late, and it's nice to dabble in another BL ship for the first time.
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

There is a gentle hum under Annette’s breath. A bounce is in her step, sunlight beaming down on her. Seeing Mercedes has always been exciting, as it should be when she is her best friend. But Annette cannot quite pinpoint when it started to make her feel this warm inside.

A strange sense of nerves reaches her chest as she steps towards Mercedes’ house, despite how she’s here as often as her own. She exhales as she opens the door.

“Mercie, it’s me!” she calls, shutting it after her. Footsteps can be heard at the end of the hallway as Annette takes off her shoes.

“Annie! I’m so glad to see you!” The woman in question now reaches Annette, arms outstretched. The latter grins and throws herself at Mercedes immediately.

“It feels like it’s been forever, even though it’s only been a week,” says Annette in agreement. Mercedes gives her a gentle squeeze before letting go.

“I have everything in the kitchen ready,” says Mercedes. “Mm … I already can’t wait to eat them!”

“I’m sure with you on hand, they’ll be more delicious than any chocolate eggs we could buy in store.”

That smile on Mercedes’ face grows, reaching those beautiful eyes, and Annette imagines it’s only her captivation in that beauty that stops her from averting her gaze out of nerves.

Mercedes has always been beautiful. Ever since Annette met her several years ago, she was floored by her. Taller than Annette, with such gorgeous, long hair, and the gentlest smile Annette has ever seen. That hair has been cut by now. The bob that frames Mercedes’ face, however, is just as beautiful, if not more so—it draws your attention straight to her features.

Admiring your friend’s appearance is normal. Girls complimenting each other is something that Annette loves. But over time … It seems as though this is starting to reach beyond mere appreciation.

And Mercedes isn’t the only girl Annette has thought is attractive either, although she _is_ the only girl that Annette can say truly makes her heart flutter this way.

“Now,” says Mercedes as they enter her kitchen, “I got different types of chocolate for us to use, and made up some icing that we can colour if you like!”

“Ooh.” Annette peers around at the ingredients. “This will be fun for sure! I also brought some sweets we could stick on them if we wanted, hold on …”

Annette pulls out a few packets from the bag over her shoulder, before she leaves it to one side. Mercedes’ hands clap together.

“Ah, lovely. Let me get our aprons, then we can get started.”

A soft smile finds Annette’s face; the pair having their own matching aprons, two for either of their houses, is something else that touches her. A blue apron with a heart on the front is given to her; Mercedes ties a pink one around herself.

“So first, let’s get the chocolate melted,” says Mercedes.

“Sure thing!”

Mercedes takes the milk and dark chocolate, Annette the white. They both break up the bars into as many pieces as possible with a knife; Annette chuckles to herself as she thinks how perfect this would be for a certain friend of theirs. They’re soon melting the chocolate on top of the stove. Mercedes hums to herself, and Annette smiles, eyes fixed on the white chocolate she stirs.

“I’m glad to be spending Easter with you,” says Annette. “I really appreciate you making the time for me after the church service.”

“Of course, Annie! Who else would I want to spend today with, other than my best friend?” Mercedes nudges Annette lightly with her elbow. “Especially as you can never say no to my sweets.”

Annette laughs, shaking her head. “No, not quite! Really, all we’re doing is melting some chocolate and putting it in moulds, yet I bet you’re going to somehow make them even more delicious … And you’ll decorate them perfectly too, no doubt.”

“I won’t deny that I am good at making sweets, but you doubt yourself too much.” Mercedes lifts one of her spoons, the chocolate dripping down into the bowl. “You’re wonderful at this, too!”

“Ah shucks, you’re going to make me blush.” As though she isn’t doing so already. Mercedes laughs lightly, and Annette does too.

After leaving the melted chocolate to cool, they are soon pouring it into their prepared moulds. They decide on making a few eggs at a time, leaving some chocolate to one side to pour over later. The chocolate is spread evenly over the sides. Annette is practically drooling the whole time.

“Kinda just want to eat the melted chocolate,” she says dreamily. Mercedes tuts.

“No, Annie. We need that.”

“I’m not _going_ to. But maybe I could just …” Annette sneaks her hand into a bag of chocolate buttons, taking a few between her fingertips. “Oh no, they’re going to somehow end up being eaten!”

Mercedes laughs, reaching for the bag as well. “It’s not as though I planned on sweets being used for decoration, I suppose!”

They lay some greaseproof paper across the kitchen counter. The moulds are placed flat-side-down, beginning the torturous wait for them to set completely. Annette finds her mind wandering as they do so.

After all, now she’s not focused on preparing chocolate, Annette’s eyes are landing straight back on Mercedes’ face. It takes only a glance at those long eyelashes peering down at the bowls of icing for Annette to swallow.

“Um … Mercie, can I ask you something?”

Mercedes faces her. “Always, Annie. Is something the matter?”

“N-no, not exactly, I just …” Annette plays with the edge of a chocolate egg mould. “How did you know that you like girls, too?”

If this question is odd to Mercedes, she doesn’t show it. She merely hums, still stirring that icing as she gathers her thoughts. “There was never a particular moment. I think I’ve felt something there for them too, for a very long time. I realised that how _I_ found girls beautiful was not quite the same as others.” She straightens up, smiling at Annette. “I suppose the moment I could finally put a name to how I felt was when I thought about my future. Could I be happy settling down with a girl? The answer was yes, but I realised I could be happy with a boy, too.”

“I see …” Annette’s tongue licks over her lips. “It wasn’t a particular person?”

“Hmm, perhaps … It’s been a while since I figured it out. I suppose everyone varies. Is there any reason why you’re asking, Annie?”

“W-well, I …” For a split second, Annette wonders if she has the courage to confess spontaneously. This turns out to not be the case when she says, “I uh, I’ve been questioning Felix’s sexuality. We’re close, you know, and I feel like he might not like girls.”

It’s not a lie—she _is_ questioning this very thought. She still feels guilty, however, for using the truth of this to give a dishonest answer. Can it be deemed a lying, if that’s not the motive behind her asking? She does really want to be able to help Felix. And—

Mercedes hums thoughtfully, bringing Annette back from her mental ramblings. “It’s a possibility. I’d say it’s something you should only bring up if you feel like that is what he needs, and he might hurt himself if you don’t.”

“Hurt himself?”

“Suppressing who you are can be emotionally damaging. Living around others and feeling like you’re hiding some kind of truth from them, even if it shouldn’t matter who you love anyway … It’s not the most pleasant.” Mercedes’ smile returns. “Simply keep an eye on him and be there for him. He’ll come to you when he’s ready.”

“I … Thank you,” says Annette, both thankful and guilty to have advice over this when she realises that it’s still something she should be listening to. For her sake _and_ her close friend’s. “I hope that you’re happy in yourself, Mercie.”

“I am. I’m proud of who I’ve become.” The genuine voice behind those words gives Annette hope that she can be proud of this as well.

The minutes they need to wait pass quickly. The egg halves are taken out of their moulds, now left with the task of sticking them together with chocolate around the rim. Annette’s tongue pokes out of her mouth as she carefully does so.

“This is strangely satisfying,” she says as she tests the firmness. “They look great!”

“Yes, they definitely do. Shall we start decorating them?”

“You bet!”

A couple are decorated simply; chocolate scooped onto a spoon, fast sways back-and-forth over the eggs to splatter them with lines of melted chocolate. Another option is sticking sweets onto the eggs with drops of this chocolate dabbed on the back. These aren’t the prettiest ones, but the additional sugary sweetness is bound to make the taste most important.

This is when they delve into decorating that is a little more complex. Icing popped into bags of different sizes, as they begin to draw patterns over the chocolate. Flowery patterns, animal faces … When they have two eggs left, however, they attempt a whole new challenge; drawing each other on an egg.

“This is way more difficult than I imagined,” Annette laughs, currently attempting to draw Mercedes’ hair over the sides of a milk chocolate egg. “The colour is nowhere near accurate … Unlike yours!”

Mercedes is currently piping the flick of Annette’s ginger hair at the bottom of the egg. “But your hair is so bright, it’s easy to get an accurate colour. The eyes on yours are better than mine, I’d say.”

The cute pair of cartoon eyes Annette has drawn on hers _are_ adorable, she’ll admit that much. “Hehe, thanks!”

Though the portrait eggs are hardly the most beautiful masterpieces when finished, both women still take delight in the results. Mercedes hums as her eyes scan over the eggs.

“They all look so pretty. How are we even going to—”

 _Snap._ Annette has torn apart one of the white chocolate eggs. “Oh. We were going to wait?”

Mercedes laughs, shaking her head. “No, that’s okay! We made them to eat, didn’t we? Let’s just make sure to put bows on a few to give them away. But _this_ one,” Mercedes accepts the large chunk of chocolate handed to her, “is ours, now.”

“And our portraits, obviously. I can’t give anyone else that blasphemous Mercie portrait.”

“I think I look very pretty.”

“Well, you _are_ beautiful.”

The words leave Annette before she can stop them. She hurriedly pops chocolate into her mouth for something to do, and to shut herself up before she can say anything else. Mercedes’ reaction, however, is worthy of any embarrassment; that radiant smile returns once again.

“Thank you, Annie! You’re beautiful yourself.”

“Th-thanks …”

If only Mercedes knew how much those words made Annette’s heart flutter. There is a part of her that believes she would be happy staying this way forever. Best friends, nothing else attached. That would be far better than not having Mercedes stay in her life.

But today is confirming what Annette has already been suspicious about. She’s not sure if she can hold herself back from saying something forever. Mercedes will have always been the first person she tells of her sexuality, when she herself can apply that label to herself and understands it. But for Annette to go further, tell Mercedes that she is the very girl causing her to question this in herself … Before today, Annette deemed this as impossible.

Now she is realising that Mercedes is far too sweet, too kind, for Annette to hide the truth from forever. No matter what Mercedes’ answer is, Annette is confident that the two will do this forever. These joyous times will never end.

Although perhaps, just perhaps, those little glances at Annette out of the corner of Mercedes’ eye, smiles tugging at her lips, might mean something as well. It might be the wishful thinking of a girl helplessly crushing on her best friend.

But it might also mean something new is on the horizon.


End file.
